1. Technical Field
The presently disclosed subject matter relates to a projector type vehicle light including a shade that can be rotated between a low-beam position and a high-beam position by a solenoid. In particular, the presently disclosed subject matter relates to a projector type vehicle headlight that can suppress the temperature increase of a solenoid due to the heat generated from a light source while the shade and the projection lens can be disposed closer to each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various projector type vehicle headlights are known that include a light source, a reflector configured to reflect light from the light source, a shade configured to shield part of the light received from the reflector, and a projection lens configured to project light that is not shielded by the shade. Examples of this type of vehicle headlight include those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (corresponding to FIGS. 1 and 4 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-213938).
In the description of the present application, the directions for describing a light or headlight (front and rear, left and right, and up and down directions) are defined based on the state where the light is installed in a normal vehicle unless otherwise specifically defined.
The projector type vehicle headlight as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes, in addition to the above basic components, a shade rotational shaft extending in a horizontal direction (left-to-right direction) of the headlight, a base member configured to support the shade around the shade rotational shaft so that the shade can rotate freely, a solenoid configured to rotate the shade between a low-beam position and a high-beam position, and a crank shaft for connecting the solenoid with the shade for driving and rotating of the shade.
In this structure, when the solenoid is turned off, the shade is disposed at the low-beam position to shield part of light from the reflector, thereby forming a low-beam light distribution pattern.
When the solenoid is turned on, the plunger of the solenoid is retracted to rotate the crank shaft connected thereto. Then, the rotated crank shaft can move the shade. As a result, the shade is allowed to be disposed at the high-beam position to form a high-beam light distribution pattern.
When the solenoid is disposed so that the moving direction of the plunger is aligned with the front-to-rear direction, the size of the vehicle headlight in the front-to-rear direction is relatively large. However, in this structure, the solenoid is disposed so that the moving direction of the plunger is aligned with the horizontal direction (left-to-right or side to side direction) of the projector type vehicle headlight, and therefore, the size of the vehicle headlight in the front-to-rear direction is relatively smaller than when the plunger moving direction is aligned in the front to rear direction.
When the solenoid is disposed behind the base member, the solenoid is heated by the light source. In contrast, in this structure, the solenoid is disposed in front of the base member for supporting the rotatable shade, and therefore, a temperature rise of the solenoid can be suppressed (better temperature control of the solenoid can be achieved). In this case, however, the shade and the projection lens are separated farther when compared with the case where the solenoid is not disposed in front of the base member for supporting the rotatable shade.